CEO Stephen Elop's comments in our recent interview were impressive too: the partnership with Microsoft means Nokia can spend its money not on the plumbing, but on "those things where we can differentiate, where the innovation is truly meaningful."

The financial results are appalling, of course, but instead of jumping from a "burning platform" into a fire, it looks like Nokia has found a better place to be: rather than going "how can we tweak what we've already got?", the company appears to be thinking "what can we do that would be really cool?"

That's good for Windows Phone too, because unlike other partners Nokia doesn't have an Android business to fall back on. For Nokia, there is no Plan B.

Maybe it doesn't need one, because Plan A seems to be starting to work - and I'd love to know what tablet-shaped plans the firm has for Windows 8.

There's still a mountain to climb, but I think this time Nokia's ascending it rather than falling off the side.